Scripture: Luke 11:5-13
Video Link: https://youtu.be/IeEMc95XpDs
Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 1 Feb 2026 – The friend at Midnight by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud
Structure:
- Introduction
- Knowing God’s character
- Encourages prayer
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
How would you describe the colour red to someone who was born blind? Those who can see don’t need the colour red described to them, they know from experience what red looks like.
But those who have never seen the colour red need a comparison they can relate with. You might, for example, take something hot, like a cup of coffee, and place it in their hands. The feeling of heat may enable them to imagine the colour red. And, as the cup cools, red lightens to pink.
Alternatively, you might describe the colour red as a loud angry noise or as a spicy curry. In order to describe the colour red, which is an unknown concept to a person born blind, you need to start with what the person knows.
Today we begin a new sermon series on some of the parables of Jesus.
The word parable literally means ‘laying alongside’. A parable is a story which compares one thing alongside another (in parallel) to teach a truth and bridge a gap in understanding.
Jesus often used parables to teach people about God. Jesus would take something that was familiar to his audience and use it to help people understand something unfamiliar to them, namely God and the kingdom of heaven.
When it comes to understanding God and his kingdom, we are like people born blind. We can no more see the spiritual realm than a blind person can see colours. Jesus’ parables help to bridge the gap in our spiritual understanding.
This week’s parable, sometimes called ‘the friend at midnight’, comes from the gospel of Luke chapter 11. In the context the disciples have just asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus gives them the words of the Lord’s Prayer and then goes on to say…
5 …“Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even if he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet in order to avoid dishonour he will surely get up and give you whatever you need. [1]9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks fora fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
Jesus’ purpose in these verses is to encourage people to pray. To this end Jesus is not so concerned with teaching his disciples the right technique for praying. Rather, Jesus wants us to understand who it is we are praying to.
Sometimes we may lack the motivation to pray. We might think, what difference will it make? But when we understand the character of God, his goodness and willingness to care for us, we find the energy to pray. Indeed, knowing God’s character encourages prayer.
God’s character:
Dr. Gary Inrig tells a story of the famous missionary David Livingston.
After Livingston had been in Africa about 12 years, he had a desire to travel from where he was, on the east of the continent, over to the west coast through a part of that continent that no other European had ever been before.
It was impossible for him to do this on his own, so he went to a local chief and asked for 27 men of the tribe to go with him. The trip was dangerous and the chief knew that white men were not entirely trustworthy.
Sensing this, Livingston made the chief a promise. “If you give me your sons, I promise to return with them, and to deliver them to their homes and their families. My life will be a pledge.” The chief agreed on that basis, and Livingston set out.
The journey was not easy. Difficult terrain, hostile tribes, dangerous animals and illness. But finally, they made it to the west coast. As they stumbled into the port of Luanda, they were amazed to find a British warship there.
The warship had been sent from England for the specific purpose of finding Livingston and bringing him back. The captain said to Livingston, “Sir, Queen Victoria has sent me to urge you to return. All England is waiting to honour you.”
The thought of going home to a hero’s welcome was very tempting, but Livingston had a problem. He had made a promise to return to the chief. “Well,” they assured him, “the promise of a white man to an African doesn’t matter. The Queen is more important than a chief.”
But David Livingston knew he carried the honour of the British Empire with him. If he did not make good on his promise, it would reflect very badly on Queen Victoria and his fellow countrymen.
Despite all the urgings of the naval officers, Livingston turned around and headed back into the jungle. The trip finally ended 2½ years after he started, with the British explorer delivering the 27 Africans back to their homes and families.
David Livingston had the character to honour his promise. He did the right thing by the African people and this fostered trust. The people were willing to listen to him because his word was something they could rely on.
Honour is about doing the right thing by others, even if the right thing is inconvenient to us. In the parable of the friend at midnight, Jesus makes a case for God’s willingness to answer our prayers based on God’s honour, his good character.
Jesus’ original audience was far more sensitive to matters of shame and honour than many of us are. For them providing hospitality for travellers was a matter of honour, just like keeping his promise was a matter of honour to Livingston.
So when Jesus asked his listeners to imagine a friend refusing to get out of bed to help his neighbour with the sacred duty of hospitality, they would have been shocked.
Now, if you are anything like me, your sympathy is probably with the bloke who got woken up in the middle of the night. But for Jesus’ eastern audience, the sympathy is with the host who came calling for bread.
If the host did not provide adequately for the traveller, then this brought shame on the whole village. The host who came calling at midnight was not being an annoying neighbour. He was doing the honourable thing both for the traveller and for his whole town.
Besides, he wasn’t asking for much. People in Jesus’ time did not eat with a knife and fork like we do. They broke off pieces of bread and dipped it in the main dish. (Like when we use a piece of Naan bread to mop up our curry). When the host comes asking for three loaves of bread he is simply asking for the cutlery.
And as for the man’s excuse, that the door is locked and the kids are in bed, this is laughable. While it is true that getting up would probably disturb the family, this was nothing compared with the shame of refusing hospitality in that culture. [2]
The neighbour’s excuse is as ludicrous as not installing a smoke alarm for fear it will wake the whole house. In the same way that it’s better to be woken up than die in a fire, in Middle Eastern culture it’s better to be woken up than publicly shamed.
So the host, who is a friend and neighbour, is not asking for something big for himself. He is asking for something small for someone else, in order to uphold the honour of the village. Which means, even if the man in bed won’t get up and help for the sake of friendship, he will get up and help to avoid the shame of letting the whole village down.
Verse 8 is a bit difficult to translate into English…
The Good News Bible says the host gets everything he needs because he is not ashamed to keep on asking.
The New Revised Standard Version says the host gets whatever he needs because of his persistence in asking.
While the New International Version says the host gets as much as he needs because of his boldness in asking.
The ideas expressed by these different translations are not wrong or bad. They find support in other parts of Scripture. The problem is they move away from the original meaning of this particular text.
They also put the focus on the host, who is asking for bread, when it should be on the friend who is being asked.
As a consequence, these translations lead us down the path of thinking that receiving an answer to our prayers is dependent on our own ability, which misses the point of the parable.
The parable is not primarily about us (the pray-ers). The parable is primarily about God. The point of this particular parable is not that we will get what we ask for if we are bold enough or persistent enough or shameless enough in our praying.
The point is that we will get all that we need because God’s character is honourable. God is good. He always does the right thing by people, no matter how inconvenient.
Jesus is arguing from the lesser to the greater. The neighbour who is woken at midnight is poor, but God is rich. The neighbour is asleep, but God is always awake. The neighbour is reluctant, but God is willing.
Jesus is saying, if your neighbour (who possibly doesn’t like you very much) will help you for the sake of his own honour, how much more will God (your heavenly Father) help you.
Having faith in the character of God is more important than having the right prayer technique. When we pray to God, we are praying to someone who is honourable. Someone who knows all that we need and is willing and able to do the right thing by us.
You will notice, in verse 8, that the friend who calls at midnight gets not just the bread he asked for but whatever he needs. In other words, more than just the bread to mop up the meal.
The other thing we note here is that Jesus is not saying God is like a genie who grants our every wish. God gives us the good things we need, not necessarily all the things we want. Some of the things we want may not be good for us or others.
Encourages prayer:
Jesus wants people to know God’s good character so they will be encouraged to pray. In verse 9 the Lord says…
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
Given the character of God, we can expect to receive the right answer when we ask. We can expect to find something good when we seek the Lord. And we can expect the door of life to be opened when we knock.
Of course, what we receive may not be what we originally asked for or expected but we can rest assured it will be good for us because we are praying to a God who is honourable. God always does what is right and good because he is righteous and good.
Another observation from verse 9 is that some effort is required on our part when praying. Asking, seeking and knocking are all verbs (doing words) in the present continuous tense. In other words, go on asking, seeking and knocking until you get an answer.
The point is: what we bring to prayer is important. Although God knows what we need, we must still ask. To not put our requests before God in prayer is to take God for granted. More than that, asking and receiving grows our faith. The more we sense God responding to our prayers, the stronger our trust in him becomes.
Interestingly, Jesus does not limit prayer to mere asking. It seems that for Jesus, prayer also involved seeking and knocking. Asking engages our mind and our mouth, while seeking and knocking engages our whole self. Prayer is not just sitting in a room speaking to God. Prayer can also involve walking around trying things and looking for openings.
For example, if you need work, you start by asking God for a job. But you don’t stop there. You put together a CV, you do a search on the internet, you knock on doors, you visit those people and businesses you might want to work for. Prayer means both depending on God as well as doing the leg work and using your initiative.
In verse 10 Jesus says something truly shocking. The Lord says: For everyone who asks receives; Everyone. Prayer is not just for Christians. Nor is it just for relatively good people. Prayer is for everyone, whether you go to church or not. God responds to everyone’s prayers. It may or may not be the response we are hoping for, but God always listens and answers.
We are talking about the character of God. Knowing God’s character encourages prayer. Prayer is worth the effort because God is honourable. When we pray, we can be confident the Lord will respond with something good.
Greg Norman was one of the most ice-cold golfers on the pro circuit. Apparently, he learned this from his father. He once said, “I used to see my father getting off a plane or something and I’d want to hug him, but he’d only shake my hand.”
Norman was at the 1996 Masters, the most prestigious golf tournament in the world. He let a six-shot lead go during the last round and lost to his great rival Nick Faldo. Faldo hit a 15 foot birdie for the winning shot. Norman tried to smile as he waited for the customary handshake, but instead he found himself in a bear hug embrace from Faldo. As they held each other Greg Norman began to weep.
Later Norman said, I wasn’t crying because I lost. I’ve lost a lot of golf tournaments and I’ll lose a lot more. I cried because I’d never felt that from another man before. I’ve never had a hug like that in my life.”
In verses 11-13, of Luke 11, Jesus continues to encourage people to pray based on God’s character. From verse 11 we read…
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks fora fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Again, Jesus is reasoning from the lesser to the greater. If earthly fathers (who are far from perfect) are willing to give good gifts to their children, how much more willing is God (who is perfect).
It’s interesting that Luke’s version of this teaching of Jesus specifically mentions God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, while Matthew’s version uses the more general expression good things.
For some people receiving the Holy Spirit is accompanied by a warm feeling inside, like receiving a hug. The kind of hug Greg Norman longed for from his father and finally received from his friend Nick Faldo.
Shaking your child’s hand is not a bad thing. Parents could do worse. But a hug that conveys warmth and love is better. The Holy Spirit sometimes gives the sort of hug which reassures us (without words) that God loves us and accepts us as his son or daughter. It’s the kind of hug that gives us the strength and faith to love others.
By giving us his Holy Spirit, God is giving us the gift of himself, he is pouring something of his love and truth into our heart. There is no greater gift.
Each person’s experience of the Spirit is different. Not everyone gets a warm fuzzy feeling. But, whatever your experience of God’s Spirit, it will be what you need personally.
Do you need wisdom in making a difficult decision? Ask God the Father and he will give you his Spirit. Do you need grace to forgive or strength to endure? Ask God the Father and he will give you his Spirit.
Conclusion:
Whether we are praying for ourselves or others, we are not wringing gifts from the hands of an unwilling God. We are going to one who knows what we need better than we do and whose heart toward us is the heart of generous love.
If we do not receive what we pray for it is not because God grudgingly refuses to give it but because he has something better for us. That something better will inevitably require us to change. You see, we don’t just pray in order to get stuff from God. Yes, prayer changes things but it also changes us.
I like what Richard Foster says: “The primary purpose of prayer is to bring us into such a life of communion with the Father that, by the power of the Spirit, we are increasingly conformed to the image of the Son.”
Foster goes on to explain what he means: “When we begin to walk with God, he is gracious and marvellously answers our feeble, egocentric prayers. We think, ‘This is wonderful. God is real after all!’ In time, however, when we try to push this button again, God says to us, “I would like to be more than your Provider. I also want to be your Teacher and your Friend. Let me lead you into a more excellent way. I want to free you of the greed and avarice, the fear and hostility that make your life one great sorrow.’ [3]
Ultimately God wants to give us the gift of His Spirit so we may enjoy communion with him. Let us pray…
Father God, you are honourable, generous and near. Thank you for knowing our needs and providing for us. Prepare us to receive your Spirit. Set us free to love you and love others. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.
Outtakes
One final observation from today’s Scripture reading and that is, God is near.
The neighbour who was called on in the middle of the night was near, just next door. And the father who knows how to give good gifts, is even closer, right in the same house as you in fact. God is as near to you as your skin.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
- What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- How would you describe the colour red to someone born blind?
- What is a parable? What is the purpose of Jesus’ parables generally?
- Discuss / reflect on the parable of the friend at midnight in verses 5-8. What was Jesus’ purpose in telling this parable? What is the main point?
- Why can we expect good things when we pray to God?
- Have you ever not received what you asked for in prayer? How was God’s response different from what you requested? Why do you think God said ‘no’ to you? How did you feel then? How do you feel about that now?
- What would you like to ask God for? Make some time this week to ask, seek and knock. You may like to keep a journal of what you asked for and how God responded.
[1] The translation of verse 8 follows Joel Green and Kenneth Bailey’s reading of the original text.
[2] Refer to Kenneth Bailey’s book ‘Poet & Peasant, pages 119-141.
[3] Refer Richard Foster’s book on ‘Prayer’, page 59
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